SYSTRA at the Heart of Lyon Metro’s Transformation

Automation and extension work on the Lyon metro is in full swing with SYSTRA.

The Group is participating within a consortium in two major project management assignments for this network, on which we have been working for several decades. To increase its passenger capacities and modernise its systems, SYTRAL (Rhône department and Lyon metropolitan transport syndicate) launched in 2015 several projects on lines B and D. The works for these two assignments began a year ago and are going full steam ahead.

A new, technically complex automatic system for Lines B and D
The first project management assignment is that of Avenir Métro, which was entrusted to the MELYES consortium of which Egis is leader. SYSTRA is responsible for managing the integration of all the Systems, the work related to the Rolling Stock market and the modernisation of depots. The objective is firstly to automate Line B by 2020 and then to ensure the migration of Line D to a new automatic operating system as of 2023. This migration of one automatic system to another is very complex from a technical standpoint as it involves disconnecting the system and putting another system in place during a single weekend. This migration, done without interrupting the service, will also enable new trains to be put into service on Line D, thereby enhancing the city’s transport offer.

Prior to this, the preliminary works on Line B began in September 2017, and will last until 2019, to prepare the lines for the arrival of the new trains and enable the entire line to be automated.

Albin Rodot, SYSTRA Business Manager and Works Manager for the Avenir Métro project, commented: “The Avenir Métro project involves the teams of the France Directorate in Lyon and the teams of the Technical Directorate (DTE) in Paris, representing around 15 people with many different areas of expertise. In three years, we have led project management studies, then the awarding of contracts, and we have just finished validating manufacturers’ execution studies, all while starting the works on the line in operation. We are also supervising the installations carried out on the maintenance site and monitoring the purchase of rolling stock. This project is as comprehensive as it is complex in terms of challenges.”

Extension of Line B
Also launched in September 2017, the Line B extension works have gathered pace in 2018. Commissioned 40 years ago, extension works will be carried out until 2023 and two new stations added: Oullins-Centre and Saint-Genis-Laval – Hôpitaux Sud. Thousands of students, researchers and employees will use it to reach several economic and teaching centres in the regions from the centre of Lyon.

The project management was awarded to the MELYES consortium, of which SYSTRA is a part and Egis is the leader. Our teams are in charge of the design of the whole tunnel section, which is 2.4km long, and of the station back-exit and geotechnical studies. As the urban environment at surface level is dense, risk management is especially crucial. SYSTRA is also responsible for most of the works’ project management. We are in charge of the civil engineering, including the tunnel boring machine, a station and its initial shaft, all while ensuring technical coherence between the different civil engineering packages.

Olivier Dufourd, the SYSTRA Infrastructure Project Manager added: “The last 12 months have involved preparatory works, to divert the electrical and underground networks, move car parks, and arrange the plots of land granted for the site. The construction contracts have also been awarded and works on the tunnel will be able to start this autumn.”